Heart over Haunting
by Barbossa'sGirl3
Summary: Paranormal investigating is Avalon Bates' world. She wants nothing more than to join the TAPS team. But when she falls in love with one of her fellow investigators, it has to be kept a secret, because dating among the team members is not allowed. Will she be able to hold in her feelings, or will she give up ghost hunting for love?
1. Prolouge

Crash!

_Again!? Really!?_

Avalon rubbed her nose. She had just run into yet another wall.

"You okay?" a male voice asked from next to her.

"Yeah. Just getting acquainted with the walls."

He laughed and kept walking. She followed him, careful to go through the doorway this time.

"This is what flashlights are for, genius." Avalon muttered.

"What?"

"I'm coaching myself on how not to run into everything."

He chuckled, "Maybe I should just carry you."

She laughed nervously, "Maybe that would- Oof!"

This time she had tripped on a part of the wood floor that was sticking up. But fortunately she had caught herself.

"Whoa, Avy. You sure you're alright?" he sounded more concerned this time and turned his flashlight beam on her.

She tried to control the red tide coming into her face and smiled, "I'm fine. Really. My only problem is that I'm a klutz."

_Because I'm so dang nervous! And thank goodness the night vision on the cameras doesn't show color!_

The brunette got up and brushed herself off, "You know what, I think I'll sit down. That's probably the safest thing I can do."

She picked a nice looking old chair and proceeded to sit down.

Crunch!

The chair fell apart and left her sitting on the floor. There was a moment of silence before Avalon's laughter pierced the air, soon to be joined by her companion.

"Oh boy." the young woman wiped her eyes, "You'd think this was a comedy show."

"You're making it a comedy show. We usually don't have this many funny things happen in one night." the young man chuckled, then suddenly exclaimed, "Not that you getting hurt is funny!"

"I'm not hurt." she shrugged and smiled, "But I wouldn't mind a hand up."

"Oh! Of course." he reached out and grasped her hand firmly, pulling her back up into a standing position.

"Thanks." she was glad his flashlight wasn't on her face this time, so he didn't see how red it was.

"No problem." he tried to sound nonchalant, but there was a touch of shyness to his voice.

She smiled and they continued out of the room.


	2. Chapter 1

Avalon Bates had stood in front of a small building in Rhode Island. She was feeling very nervous. Intimidated by the large letters adhered to the window that spelled out TAPS.

_What if they don't want to hire me?_

She took a deep breath and walked slowly up to the door.

_Well... Here goes._

She raised her hand and knocked on the glass panel door. A dark haired woman with a friendly smile walked up and opened the door.

"Hello." Avalon smiled, "I'm here to apply for a job."

"Hi!" the woman said cheerfully and stepped back a little, "Please come in."

"Thank you." she stepped inside.

"Right this way." the woman started walking, "I'm Kris Williams by the way."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Avalon Bates."

"Avalon? That's an interesting name."

"Yeah. It's Welsh. Means apple tree. Which is funny because I love apples."

Kris laughed slightly, "Talk about ironic."

"I know right."

They arrived at a door and Kris knocked on it, "Guys, I have a young lady here that wants to join the team."

"Send her in." a male voice answered.

Once the door was open and Avalon had stepped into the office, she observed the two men that had been working in there. One was tall with a shaved head and reddish brown beard, his gray blue eyes were calculating but friendly. The other man was a little shorter, more of average height, with short dark brown hair and twinkling brown eyes.

"Good luck." Kris whispered before leaving.

"I'm Jason Hawes." the taller man reached his hand out.

Avalon shook it, "I'm Avalon Bates."

"Grant Wilson." the shorter man held out his hand.

Avalon shook his hand after releasing Jason's, "It's an honor to meet you both."

The guys sat back down in their chairs and their guest sat down in one as well.

"So you want to be part of TAPS?" Jason looked serious.

"Yes." Avalon nodded, "I've had experience as a paranormal investigator. I actually had my own group in my hometown."

"Really?" Grant looked kind of impressed.

"Yep. I started it with a few of my friends when I was seventeen and we continued it for a little over two years."

"Then what happened?"

"We all kind of wanted to go our separate ways, but I was still interested in the field, so I decided to try and join you guys." Avalon felt kind of like a dork, but she tried to look confident.

"Where are you from?" Jason asked.

"Oregon."

"Cool." Grant nodded.

Jason leaned back a little, "Now I know this isn't a woman's favorite question, but... How old are you?"

Avalon chuckled, "Twenty."

They both smiled and Grant spoke up again, "Would you mind leaving your number with us?"

"Not at all." she quickly wrote out her cell number on a slip of paper.

They all stood up and the guys shook her hands again.

"We'll let you know our decision within a couple of days." Jason informed the young woman.

"Thank you." she smiled and let herself out of their office.

When she walked past a smaller office, Kris's voice floated out, "How'd it go?"

Avalon stopped and looked in, "Pretty good I'd say."

Kris grinned, "I hope you get hired!"

"Me too." the younger woman smiled.

She walked out to her car and got in.

"And even if I don't get accepted into the team, I can at least say I've been in their office and met three of the members." she grinned to herself.

_But I have a pretty good feeling that I'll be hired._

* * *

Besides paranormal investigating, one of Avalon's passions was writing. After moving to Rhode Island, she had immediately tried to get a job as a journalist for a newspaper, but was told she would have to start off working at the loading dock. But a job is a job, and Avalon was glad to have one. She knew that eventually she could work her way up and become a journalist like she really wanted. Two days after her interview with the TAPS leaders, she was relaxing on the couch watching TV when her cellphone began ringing.

She pressed the answer button, "Hello?"

"Avalon Bates?" a male voice inquired.

"Speaking."

"This is Grant Wilson from TAPS."

Avalon nearly dropped the phone. She was about to find out if her dreams would come true or not.

"Jason and I have made our decision." Grant paused and Avalon almost died, "Welcome to the team."

Avalon bit her knuckles trying not to scream, her excitement level was boiling over.

_I can't believe it! I'm actually a member of TAPS!_

"Hello?"

"Sorry. I was just trying to calm down so I didn't blow your eardrums out when I said thank you."

He chuckled, "I hope you enjoy working with us."

"I know I will!" she grinned, even though he couldn't see her.

"Well, you can meet your co workers tomorrow morning at nine."

"I'll be there."

"Okay. See you then."

"Bye." she hung up and leaped out of her chair screaming, "Yes! I made it! Ha ha!"

She then proceeded to dance around the apartment, earning her weird looks from her cat.

* * *

The next morning, Avalon's brown eyes snapped open when the sunlight finally hit them. She turned and looked at the clock. It read eight thirty.

"Dang it! Why didn't my alarm go off!?"

Leaping out of bed, she nearly ran face first into the door. Then after setting the world record for getting dressed, she raced into the kitchen and measured out her cat's breakfast before grabbing a muffin from the refrigerator. Her tabby walked in and meowed a thank you to his owner before bending over his food.

"See ya later, Jack! Be a good boy!" Avalon called over her shoulder as she hurried out the front door.


	3. Chapter 2

Avalon's old silver blue labaron pulled up to the TAPS office just a couple minutes before nine. She ran up and stopped in front of the door before calmly opening it and walking inside.

"Hey, right on time." Grant smiled as he walked out of the back office.

"I try to be." the young woman smiled.

_You have no idea._

"Well, Jason isn't here this morning and you've already met Kris, so I'll introduce you to the other two."

"Okay."

They went down the basement stairs and into a small room where a man who had his back to them was working on some electronic devices. He was maybe slightly taller than average, a little overweight, his short dark brown hair was partially hidden by a baseball cap and there were tattoos all over his arms and legs.

"Hey, Steve?" Grant knocked on the door frame.

"Yes?" he turned around, revealing soft brown eyes and a slight beard.

"This is Avalon Bates. She's our new team member."

Avalon smiled, "Hi."

"Hi." he smiled, "I'm Steve Gonsalves."

"Nice to meet you."

"You too."

"Well, we'd better let you get back to work." Grant started back upstairs.

Avalon followed him back to the main area and into another office. Sitting behind the desk at a computer was a young man. His dark brown eyes were focused on the screen and his short dark brown hair was partially covered by a golf cap.

Grant knocked on the door frame, "Hey, Tango?"

The young man looked up at his boss then his eyes flickered to Avalon, "Yes?"

"Meet your new team mate, Avalon Bates." Grant smiled.

The young man stood up quickly and took off his cap, "Hi. I'm Dave Tango."

_Wow. What a gentleman._

Avalon smiled, "Hi. It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too." he smiled.

"Tango do you know if the other desk in Kris's office is ready yet?" Grant spoke up.

"I think so." he started to walk around his desk, "I'll check."

"You don't have to do that." Grant said, but the younger man was already out the door.

Avalon followed him, and her new boss trailed after them. When they entered the other office, Tango was putting pencils in the holder and the computer was booting up.

"You didn't have to do that. But thank you." Avalon smiled.

Tango smiled, "I just thought it would be the nice thing to do."

Just then Grant came in, "So, this is where you'll be working."

Tango nodded to Avalon and left the room.

The young woman brought her attention back to her boss, "What exactly will I be doing?"

"Helping Kris do research on cases and things like that. And of course you'll be an investigator in training."

"Are there certain times when I'm required to be here?"

"Only when Kris needs your help and when we're getting ready to head out on a case."

"So I take it she'll let me know when she needs my help?"

"Yes. I'll give her your phone number."

"Alright then." Avalon grinned, "I still can't believe this is happening."

Grant smiled, "It's good to have a really enthusiastic person around."

Avalon smiled, "So, should I hang around here for awhile?"

"Sure. Get a feel for the place. I'll just be in my office if you need something."

"Okay. Thanks."

After her boss had left, Avalon began wandering through the other rooms.

_This isn't a dream. I'm actually here!_

* * *

Avalon headed back down to the basement and into the equipment room. Steve was still working on a camera.

"Hey." Avalon spoke up.

Steve turned around and smiled a little, "Hey. Do you need something?"

"I just thought I'd come familiarize myself with the equipment."

"Okay. Well, if you come up to the table I can tell you about some of these things."

Avalon walked up, "I already know what most of these are and how they work."

"Alright. Name what you can and explain how it works." he crossed his arms and looked expectantly at her.

She cleared her throat and picked up a rectangular box with lights on it, "This is an EMF detector. It's for finding electro-magnetic fields. They can make people feel creeped out. And spirits can feed off it."

He nodded, "Very good."

She smiled and then picked up something that looked like a digital recorder, "This is for recording EVPs."

"And EVP stands for...?" he prompted.

"Electronic Voice Phenomenon."

"That's right."

Next she picked up a small expensive looking video camera, "This is a mini DV, or miniature digital video recorder. The investigators carry these with them to record things they may not see."

Steve nodded and Avalon picked up an odd looking piece of equipment next, "This is a thermal camera. It's to look for heat signatures and cold spots."

She set it down and clasped her hands in front of her, "That's all I know."

"Well you sure know your stuff." Steve smiled.

Avalon beamed, "Thank you."

He reached for what looked like a security camera, "This is the only thing you missed. It's the digital video recorder. We set these up to keep an eye on the hot spots at an investigation."

"That's right." Avalon hit herself lightly on the forehead, "Now I remember."

"You just might take over as tech manager someday." he smiled.

She shrugged, "You never know."

He went back to his project, "How did you get interested in the paranormal?"

"I've always been interested in it." she leaned against the work table, "But I started to take a real interest in it about four years ago when I was sixteen."

"Have you ever had a paranormal experience?"

"Nothing that exciting. Just hearing voices and footsteps on investigations, seeing things move and seeing shadows." she sighed, "I'm still waiting for 'the big one' you might say."

"Where did you do your investigating?"

"Back in Oregon where I grew up. I formed a team with a few of my friends and we investigated all over the state, as well as northern California, southern Washington, southwestern Idaho and northwestern Nevada."

"Awesome. Is the group still operating without you?"

"Nope. It split up a few months ago. Everyone wanted to go their separate ways."

"I see." he plugged in a piece of equipment to test it.

"Well... I'd better let you work. Thanks for letting me bother you for awhile."

"You weren't bothering me." he smiled.

"Good." Avalon chuckled and gave a slight wave, "See ya later."

He returned the wave, "See ya."

She turned and trotted upstairs. Grant was still in his office and Jason still wasn't there. Avalon's new office was also empty.

_Guess Kris isn't coming in today._

The young woman wandered around the main room looking at the posters on the walls.

"Hey."

She jumped and turned to find Tango getting some coffee from the refreshment table, "Oh, hi. You startled me."

"Did you think I was a ghost?" he winked.

She laughed, "Well, they can come into a room silently too."

"If they want to." he took a sip from the styrofoam cup, "And they can also make footsteps."

"Oh, I know. I had one walk right behind me on my first investigation. I just about squeezed all the air out of my friend."

He laughed softly, "Was that your first experience ever?"

"Yeah. But I don't like to call that my big paranormal experience. I'm waiting for something more exciting."

"Like what?"

"I'm not sure. Just something more exciting than the usual stuff."

He nodded and took another sip of coffee, "Want to see some of the footage from our last case?"

"I'd love to!" she exclaimed.

He grinned and waved for her to follow him back to his office.


	4. Chapter 3

"Just keep your eye in the upper right hand corner." Tango coached as he played a video clip.

Avalon's eyes widened and she leaned forward when she saw a human-like shadow zoom across the corner of the screen.

"Whoa! That's cool. My group never got anything that good." she looked awed, "Of course, our equipment wasn't as good."

"Well, we've got pretty high def equipment." Tango smiled.

"Yeah. I was just down in the basement watching Steve work on some of it."

"Did he quiz you on it?"

"Well, he was about to just explain how things worked, but I told him that I already knew. So he asked me to explain what each piece of equipment does."

"How did you do?"

"According to Steve, I did very well. Except I forgot about the DVR."

"That's pretty good for a beginner." Tango smiled.

"I'm not exactly a beginner." Avalon smirked a little, "I did have my own group for two years."

"Well, Excuse me." he laughed softly.

"You are forgiven." she chuckled.

He stopped laughing, "But seriously, you will learn a lot more about paranormal investigating being a part of TAPS then you would otherwise. I know I've learned a lot more since I left my little group."

"Oh, I definitely expect to learn things. I just didn't want to be thought of as a complete newbie."

"I didn't think of you that way." he smiled softly.

Avalon smiled back and blushed slightly.

_Seriously! That was nothing to blush about! What am I doing!?_

Suddenly she thought of something and decided to break the awkward silence.

"Hey!" she snapped her fingers, "I just thought of something."

"Oh yeah?" Tango looked curious, "What?"

"Steve didn't have a thermometer on that table. But if there had been one, I would have been able to name it too."

_Lame. But at least it broke the awkward silence._

Tango looked slightly amused, while Avalon felt very awkward and tapped her foot quietly.

"Well..." the young woman got out of her chair, "I think I may as well go home and not bother anyone anymore."

Tango stood up as well, "You're not bothering me."

"But you have to work and I don't have anything to do. So I'm just in the way."

"You're not in the way." the young man shrugged.

"It's alright." Avalon smiled, "I should get home and feed Jack anyway."

"Jack?" he raised his eyebrows.

"My cat."

His face lit up, "You're a cat person?"

"Yeah." she smiled, "Are you?"

"Definitely. My cat's name is Gary."

"That's a cool name." she gave a lopsided smile.

"Jack is a cool name too." he smiled.

"Thanks." she smiled again and left the room.

She made her way across the main room, to the biggest office and knocked on the wall, "Grant?"

"Yes?" he looked up from his laptop.

She leaned on the door frame, "I'm gonna head out now."

"Okay. We'll see you later." he said pleasantly.

She smiled and nodded, 'Bye."

After walking out of the building and getting into her car, she drove home. Upon entering the apartment, she was greeted by Jack, who came running over to weave all around her legs.

"Hi, Jack." Avalon spoke in a higher soft voice.

The cat meowed and put his feet up on his owner.

The young woman leaned down and patted his head, "What a sweet boy."

The cat started purring.

"Did you know that I'm an official member of TAPS now?" Avalon continued speaking to the cat, "I even share an office with Kris."

Jack meowed as if he understood her.

"No, you can't come with me next time. Sorry."

He meowed again.

"You can't come on any investigations either."

The cat turned around and walked away. Avalon laughed and went into the kitchen.

_I wonder when I'll get to go on an investigation?_

* * *

A couple days later, Avalon was sitting on the couch watching TV while she ate lunch. Her cell phone started buzzing on the kitchen counter. She quickly muted the TV and hurried over to her phone, swallowing a mouthful of chicken soup on the way.

She flipped open the phone, "Hello?"

"Hi Avalon. It's Kris."

"Hi Kris. What's up?"

"I just got a call about a case."

"You did!? Where is it? Do you need help with research?"

Kris laughed, "Someone's an eager beaver."

"Sorry." Avalon sounded sheepish, "I'm just excited about finally getting to do an investigation with you guys."

"That's fine. And about needing help with the research... I think I'll be okay."

"Oh. Okay."

"I know you're disappointed, but there's no point in having you come down here when you don't need to."

"Yeah. I guess my paying job is a little more important." Avalon chuckled.

Kris laughed, "Just come down to the office tomorrow at two 'o' clock to help us pack."

"You still didn't say where we're going."

"It's a surprise."

"Well, fine." Avalon teased.

Kris laughed softly, "See you tomorrow."

"Bye."

* * *

The next afternoon, Avalon parked in front of the TAPS building and saw that the others were just starting to bring stuff out. Tango spotted her and waved her over. She made her way across to the van, where Steve and Tango were loading equipment into the back.

"Hey guys. Need some help?" Avalon smiled.

Steve turned his head, "You could go inside and grab one of the camera cases."

"Alright." she turned and went inside.

There were about five equipment cases sitting in the main room. Avalon picked up two and started to lug them out the door.

_Man these are heavy!_

She managed to make it out the door and tried to keep the cases from dragging the pavement as she walked across the parking lot.

"Whoa, Avalon." Tango's eyes widened when he saw the young woman, "Steve said you just had to bring one."

"I know." she puffed, "But I was trying to be useful."

Just then, Steve got out of the van, "Here, let me take those."

He took both cases from her and lifted them into the van with ease.

"Thanks." Avalon smiled.

Tango's face twitched, then he put on a smile, "I'll go get more of the cases."

He left and Avalon began looking around the inside of the van, "This is pretty handy for when you can't set up inside isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is."

"I'm really looking forward to investigating tonight."

"I'm looking forward to investigating with you." Steve winked.

Avalon smiled and blushed.

A loud throat clearing came from behind them and they turned to see Tango holding two more cases, "Aren't we supposed to be packing?"

"Relax, Tango. We have time." Steve said leisurely and took the cases from him.

Avalon watched Tango stalk back inside.

_What's his problem?_


End file.
